514 ELEMENTS OF MINERAL BODIES. 



state of perpetual motion, circulation, and che- 

 mical combination with other bodies.* These, 

 with carbon, are the basic constituents of orga- 

 nized bodies ; for the sum of the remaining fif- 

 teen does not exceed two or three per cent. 

 And that the staminal elements of organic 

 matter contain a larger amount of caloric around 

 their particles than an equal weight of any 

 other known bodies, might naturally be inferred 

 from their tendency to assume the fluid state, 

 their highly inflammable properties, their ge- 

 neral activity, and from the enormous amount of 

 heat evolved during their combustion. 



On the other hand, the leading characteristic 

 of the mineral world is, that it is composed 

 chiefly of metallic bases, which are not only the 

 most dense and gross, but the most inert descrip- 

 tions of ponderable matter. The consequence 

 of which is, that at all ordinary temperatures of 

 the atmosphere, they remain solid and quiescent, 

 while" the moving waters and the invisible air," 

 are continually circulating throughout the earth, 

 as if impelled by some spiritual agent. But if 

 submitted to the influence of intense heat, the 

 most refractory bodies are changed to the fluid 

 state, (the essential condition of which is mo- 



* It was long ago said by Aristotle, that the lightest descrip- 

 tions of matter are the most perfect, and partake the nature of 

 forms. As a proof that this is actually the case, it may be observed 

 that the variety of organized species, which are composed of the 

 lightest elements, is far greater than that of mineral bodies. 



